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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 14, 2006

A tipple or two on top of the world

In a city crammed with over 12 million people, digging up a little space to breathe can be a tall order.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2006

Runup to war in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO -- My plane lands smoothly at Colombo's plush Bandaranaike International Airport, but beyond the runway lies the turbulence of ethnic strife that for 20 years has ravaged this hauntingly picturesque island nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2006

Teacher may have hit with 'Japan' board game

OSAKA -- Today's video games can leave parents feeling frightened. Is it really a good idea to buy a game for your child in which bloodthirsty aliens beat up little old ladies or the hero shoots, stabs, bombs and judo chops all manner of opponents? Whatever happened to the nonviolent, intellectually...
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2006

Firms to get help in wireless market

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry plans to draw up a new set of rules this fall to allow companies that do not own their own wireless infrastructure to more easily enter the mobile communications business, ministry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 14, 2006

A revival continues

More than 35 years after novelist Yukio Mishima committed ritual suicide, protesting in part against what he believed to be the demise of Japan's traditional cultural values, interest in his writing seems to be on the rise among the public.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 14, 2006

Blues, soul carnival

Two veterans perform in Japan this week for the "Japan Blues & Soul Carnival," which takes place July 19-21. Chicago soul singer Otis Clay and Mississippi bluesman Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater may have a combined age of 135, but don't expect the advancing years to have diminished the power of Clay's soul...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 14, 2006

Fine-tuning Washington's wines

Last month's column on the recent success of wines made from grapes grown in eastern Washington state's high desert generated a large amount of reader feedback. Most questions ran along the lines of, "If the Washington desert is such a great place for viticulture, then why weren't they growing grapes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2006

A little Fukuoka in Akihabara

'It's too easy for bands to play [in Tokyo] really. There are so many places to play, and everything is divided into convenient categories," says Hajime Yoshida of the Japanese punk band Panic Smile. "Bands from outlying cities have a tougher attitude than Tokyo bands."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2006

A confluence of buzzes

Artistic restlessness is not a quality normally associated with rookie rock bands. It applies more to established groups who've outgrown their signature sound. TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn quintet whose second album, "Return to Cookie Mountain," was already being touted by tastemakers as the year's best...
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2006

Moral boost for Mr. Putin

Russia's most wanted man is dead. Shamil Basayev, the leader of Chechen rebels who has masterminded acts of terror that have claimed hundreds of lives, was killed this week in an explosion. His death is a victory for the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a blow to the cause Basayev headed;...
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2006

Free-trade agreement with Malaysia takes effect

A free-trade agreement between Japan and Malaysia took effect Thursday, with the two countries ready to scrap tariffs on essentially all industrial goods and most agricultural, forestry and fishery products within 10 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2006

Toy show offers brain training, healing

Japan's biggest toy show opened Thursday in Tokyo, with about 170 toy makers from Japan and abroad taking part in the four-day event.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2006

Udo Music Festival

When & where: Udo Music Festival takes place at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture and Izumiotsu Phoenix in Osaka, July 22-23. Performances begin at 10:30 a.m. The lineups on Saturday switch venues on Sunday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 14, 2006

Revisit '60s new wave, U.S. 'indie' cinema

Ever wanted to see Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 blueprint for the French new wave, "A Bout de Souffle," starring an impeccably cool Jean-Paul Belmondo, on the big screen?
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 14, 2006

Summer's door

"Natsu no Tobira (Door to Summer)," a play by Osaka-based theater company Ishinha, premiered at the Cervantino Arts Festival in Mexico in October 2005 before touring Brazil. Ishinha is now back in its homeland for its Japan debut -- limited to five performances in Osaka only.
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2006

Exports fuel 15.9% May current account surplus rise

Japan's current account surplus grew 15.9 percent in May from a year earlier to 1.614 trillion yen, a turnaround from the 20.2 percent fall the previous month, due to brisk exports to the United States and Asian economies, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2006

Primal Scream "Riot City Blues"

Primal Scream are essentially two bands rolled into one. Sometimes they're fiercely experimental innovators; at others, they're little more than a Rolling Stones/Faces tribute band. "Riot City Blues" falls into the latter camp. It's hardly the most exciting prospect, but then many Scream fans would argue...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 13, 2006

Japan to face Trinidad on Aug. 9

The Japan Football Association confirmed Wednesday that Japan will play Trinidad and Tobago in a home friendly Aug. 9.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2006

Mizutani Kensetsu ex-chief arrested

Prosecutors arrested the former chairman of Mizutani Kensetsu Co. on Wednesday on suspicion of playing a key role in the engineering firm's alleged evasion of 230 million yen in taxes.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2006

Obituary: Lee Kang Young

A South Korean survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing who sought unpaid medical fees died Tuesday in a hospital in Busan, South Korea, a Japanese group supporting him said. He was 78.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2006

Guantanamo: shame on U.S.

David Hicks is a young man from Adelaide who was corrupted by al-Qaida propaganda and volunteered to train with them in Afghanistan. He left Afghanistan without having committed any terrorist or criminal act, then decided to go back to collect his meager belongings. Rather stupidly, that was after the...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight